According to recent statistics, South Korea has overtaken America to become the world’s largest market for plastic surgery procedures, when population size is taken into account.
According to a report by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, one in five women in Seoul, the country’s capital, have gone under the knife.
The most popular surgical procedures include double eyelid surgery, lipoplasty and nose jobs.
Some sources claim that plastic surgery is so affordable in the country that it is “as common as haircuts”.
It is believed that the rise of South Korea’s pop culture over the past ten years could explain this sudden ‘boom’.
Hong Jeong-Geun, a spokesman for the Korea Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, said that many patients visit plastic surgery clinics with images of their favourite celebrities, requesting features just like theirs.
However it is not just South Koreans who have been taking advantage of the country’s growing plastic surgery industry, with a large number of patients coming from China, Japan, the Middle East and even Africa.
Aggressive tactics are increasingly being used to try and lure new clients into competing clinics.
Policy makers are looking at the boom as advantageous for South Korea’s economy and recently regulations have been eased, a greater budget has been allocated to the industry and awards have been given to successful clinics in order to promote medical tourism.
“I think there’s a good chance that plastic surgery can become South Korea’s new major export industry,” said Joo Kwon, a plastic surgeon in one of the largest clinics in the country.
However the serious physical and mental risks of plastic surgery don’t seem to have been addressed by South Korean policy makers and even cosmetic surgeons have expressed concern.
“I think South Korea has a very rigorous and narrow definition of beauty because we’re an ethnically homogenous society and everyone looks pretty much the same. It is also related to low self-esteem,” Joo commented.
By Maureen Koh the new Paper Tuesday, Jul 31, 2012
A family that nips and tucks together, stays together.
At least, that applies to the Ng family, who say that undergoing plastic surgery has brought them closer together.
Youngest daughter Veronica Ng, 22, was first to head to South Korea for the operation last September.
Mum Mary, 57, liked how her daughter turned out after the procedure so much that she went under the knife in February.
Then Miss Ng’s older sister, Elizabeth, a 27-year-old finance officer, decided that she, too, would like to enhance her looks and had plastic surgery in June.
All three went to the same clinic in Seoul.
It all began when Miss Ng, a freelance make-up artist, wanted to mark her 21st birthday last year with a fresh start.
She says: “I think at that time, subconsciously, I wanted tosomething to break away from my rebellious past, to start anew as an adult.”
She picked South Korea over Thailand because “everyone has heard of the (South Korean) surgeons’ skills”.
“I’ve heard of how good the Korean doctors are and I was really curious,” she says.
The country’s stable of gorgeous “and no-secret that-they-have-gone-through-plastic-surgery” stars was another reason.
“Look at all the (Korean) female stars. They look so good.”
Miss Ng then asked her parents for permission to undergo the operation and both were supportive.
Her mother advised Miss Ng to get more details on the best options available.
Mrs Ng, who helps his husband in his bakery business, says: “I felt it was okay just as long as the job is done properly and well.
“Plastic surgery is not something to be shameful of.”
Dad, who declined to be named, agreed to pay for the $6,000 operation.
Doctor-patient communication was one of the factors that Miss Ng took into consideration.
She says: “It was very important because I wanted to be able to ask questions (directly to the doctor) and get the answers I want without a translator.
“Details could be lost in translation, which could lead to problems later.”
She decidedon Item Clinic after meeting the doctors, Dr Kim Jin Sung and Dr Chung Woo Jin. the English-speaking doctors were in Singapore to meet potential clients.
“Other than being able to give me more details, I also felt that I was more comfortable with them. and that again was important,” Miss Ng maintains.
“They were patient and took the time to listen to my needs. They also didn’t mind answering all my questions.”
Miss Ng had wanted to just do her “naturally big but only single eyelid” eyes.
She then added rhinoplasty (nose job) to the list.
In September, she flew to Seoul and returned home a different woman.
Miss Ng does not remember much about the pain after the three-hour operation. she said she was focused on wanting to see her “new face”.
She spent 19 days in Seoul, and even did some shopping while recuperating from the operation.
Miss Ng says: “I think it helped that I had the support of the family as the recovery period takes a while and can drag you into depression. They kept my spirits up over the phone.
“Your face will be all swollen and you really look terrible to some extent.”
Here are some videos we’re watching this week at KoreAm.
7 things Asian American Teens LoveThere are certain things that seem to unite the Asian American youth and The Fung Brothers have tapped into those things. David and Andrew talk about the top 7 things most Asian American teens love and goes into just way they are so loved. On the list are, of course, K-pop, K-dramas and K-BBQ.
Plastic Surgery to Look More WesternAs South Korea becomes the plastic surgery capital of Asia, CNN follows a 12-year-old ballerina named Lee Min Kyong as she is about to undergo double eyelid surgery. CNN also talks busy clinics and surgeons about the surge of operations being done daily.
Fan’s Reaction to Girls Generation TTS’s Teaser for TwinkleVideo blogger kpopchonny records his reaction to Girls Generation TaeTiSeo’s teaser for their song “Twinkle.” Jumping, screaming and incomprehensible gibberish ensues during the 17-second teaser.
Volkswagen’s The People’s Car Project: Hover Car PART 1A few months ago, Volkswagen asked people to imagine a car of the future and develop a concept for it. Of the thousands of imagined car game Wang Jia’s idea of a floating, wheel-less car. This advertisement talks about the People’s Car Project.
Tightest Parallel Parking Record BrokenThe Guinness World Record for tightest parallel parking is one of the most contested titles. Last year, it was broken by German driver Ronny Wechselberger, who slid his car into a spot only 26 centimeters wider than his car. This year, Chinese driver Han Yue obliterated that record by drifting his car into a space only 15 centimeters wider than his car.
Guitar Prodigy performs with OzzyDuring Ozzfest 2010 in Hartford, CT, Ozzy Osbourne performed the song “Crazy Train” with then 10-year-old Yuto Miyazawa. The mini rock guitarist shredded the Connecticut stage and this 2-year-old video started regaining recognition.
Cambodian Kids try To Say SupercalifragilisticexpialidociousPissdrunxlondo and his girlfriend took three weeks away from traveling around the world to teach English in a rural Cambodian school. The two decided to teach their students the most difficult word in the English language “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
North Korean CircusThe UK’s Sun tabloid uncovered footage taken at a North Korean circus where animals on skates performed before an audience of military personnel and wealthy patrons. two baboons and a small bear skated around as they slid down slides, shot basketballs and did a variety of other tricks.
Check out the videos here or watch a similar video below.
If you have more videos you’d like us to see, email linda@iamkoream.com.
Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not a K-drama fan nor do I listen to copious amounts of K-pop.
For me, the appeal of South Korea has always been its production of strong, dedicated mothers of mettle – at least on screen and in print. There is antique gun-toting, finger-chopping Lee Geum Ja from the 2005 film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, out for revenge on the man who separated her from her daughter. then there is also Bong Joon Ho’s Mother (2009), a woman who would leave no stone unturned to prove her idiot son’s innocence.
Most recently, the Man Asian Literary Prize-winning novel by Shin Kyung Sook, please Look after Mom, has at its heart the disappearance of a kimchi-making, sock-hoarding and ultimately enigmatic mum, borne away by the crowd in Seoul subway station.
So, in a warped way, it made sense to leave my two young sons at home with the husband and flee to the South Korean capital for a four-day girly trip.
As a Seoul virgin – and first-timer in Korea – I went with a girlfriend, prepared to unleash my inner-ajumma. the word means ‘married woman’ in Korean, but basically refers to any middle-aged woman and is the peninsular’s equivalent of the Singapore auntie, complete with all its chattering, excitable and bargain- hunting connotations.
Our choice of hotel could not have been better. Most convenient for any ajumma thinking of perking up her sallow complexion or getting rid of eyebags, the IP Boutique Hotel (www.ipboutiquehotel.com, from 220,000 won or US$190, a night) in Itaewon comes attached with its own plastic surgery clinic.
With fluorescent-lit mirrors hanging on almost every wall in the guest rooms and lifts, I found myself scrutinising my branching crows’ feet daily, but managed to stave off the temptation to make an appointment.
The hip hotel, with a lobby boasting contemporary Korean art as well as a row of green swings for guests to perch on, is also in an interesting location.
Known for being expat-friendly and popular with soldiers from a nearby United States military base, the area is a mix of cool bars, clubs and eateries (from Turkish kebab stores to French bistros), shops hawking designer knock-offs and a red-light district dubbed unsubtly Hooker Hill.
It was nice to have good food at our doorstep after a hard day’s work of shopping and daubing on free skincare products (more on that later).
We ended up eating twice at a Korean barbecue restaurant called Maple Tree House (www.mapletreehouse.co.kr) in a lane five minutes’ away. Wrapped in a fur jacket, while the yummy marinated beef short ribs smoked on a charcoal grill on the table, I slurped down cold buckwheat noodles in a refreshing, sour, clear soup and sneaked looks at the glamorous single girls at the next table to determine how surgically enhanced they were.
In Korea, any self-respecting ajumma must pay homage to the skincare-lined streets of Myeongdong where the service is mostly provided by friendly Mandarin- speaking, China-born salesgirls and the free samples keep flowing.
Despite my soap-and-water skincare routine, I went wild in shops with names such as Skin Food, Espoir, Etude House, Aritaum and Olive Young (the latter two are like Korea’s version of Sephora).
I grabbed 1,000 won (about 88 US cents) facial masks by the fistfuls and rubbed litres of BB creams onto jawline, the back of hands and, when I ran out of space, any exposed patch of skin I could find. It was liberating as customers are encouraged to try as much as they like without being obligated to buy. Prices for skin care and cosmetics in Seoul are also cheaper by as much as 50 per cent, compared to those in Singapore.
And I felt truly encouraged when I saw two handsome, macho young men standing in one shop, deep in discussion over which BB cream, a blemish balm that also offers coverage for the complexion, to buy, like it was the most serious and natural thing in the world. Some Korean youth do, indeed, walk around in a state of readiness to be enlisted into a K-pop boyband.
For the ajumma who likes to shop till she drops, the choices are varied. Those with stamina can hit Dongdaemun Market with its wholesale fashion malls that stay open until 5am.
Indie-inclined ajumma who appreciate avant-garde Korean designs will want to check out Aland (www.a-land.co.kr), a chain of multi-brand stores selling clothes, bags, shoes and stationery. its Myeongdong main store stocks neoprene, tassled totes in jewel colours, smartly cut and draped jackets by emerging Korean designers and artisan jewellery and has a courtyard heaped with second-hand dresses for 9,000 won ($7.80).
All shopping and no culture make for a dull ajumma, though. so, accordingly, we alternated bimbo shopaholic activities with some high culture. And Seoul has it in spades.
If you want to indulge in some Jewel in the Palace fantasy and imagine you are in the Chosun-period drama, head for the Gyeongbokgung or Gyeongbok Palace (www.royalpalace.go.kr , 3,000 won or $2.60 admission for ages 19 and above; 1,500 won or $1,500 for those seven to 18 years), the main and largest of five grand palaces built in that era.
The buildings themselves were systematically destroyed by the Japanese colonial government in the early 20th century, and much of what stands on the site today are reconstructions. Still, the grounds are pleasant to ramble through.
Apart from the historical landmark, the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (leeum.samsungfoundation.org , 13,000 won or $11 for an adult daypass; 8,000 won or $6.99 for youth, senior citizens and handicapped), just a stone’s throw away from the hotel we were staying in, is a must-visit.
Housed in three buildings, individually designed by renowned architects Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas, the museum has a traditional art section, and a modern art collection which includes Jeff Koons’ Smooth Egg With Bow sculpture and Damien Hirst’s Dance Of Death installation of multi-coloured pills.
An excellent special exhibition by new York and London-based Korean artist Doh Ho Suh, Home within Home, is on until June 3 and features his ethereal hanok, or traditional Korean houses, sewn out of translucent fabric.
The highlight of the trip for this ajumma, however, is the most over-the-top, fantastic, 24-hour sauna I have ever been in.
The Dragon Hill Spa And Resort (www.dragonhillspa.co.kr/ ) is the kind of place that can suck you in for days before spitting you out a well-massaged, relaxed and quivering mass of pleasured jelly. And all for the value-for-money entrance fee of 12,000 won.
You know the place is going to rock when you are greeted by surreal, larger- than-life statues of deities and mermaids at its gate, followed by all manner of props out of a cheesy period film set.
Once in, you are free to disrobe and try out the various themed saunas, and hot and cold baths with other naked strangers. My friend and I spent an hour shrieking excitedly and rushing around in search of the ‘Winter Sonata’ steam room and the sauna with pyramids and faux sarcophagi in it, before settling on an outdoor hot bath under a gazebo.
True-blue ajummas would buy raw eggs from a small sundry shop in the changing room to boil in the hot waters of the spa, before languorously peeling them to eat after blow-drying their hair. then, they might fall asleep on the floor of the communal sleeping rooms, which makes Dragon Hill the ideal cheap hideout if I ever want to go somewhere peaceful where my children can never find me.
Instead of sleeping, however, I spent the wee hours of the morning in the spa singing karaoke in a black box that could hold only four people without suffocating. Food and toiletries, as well as arcade games are also available, which means you do not ever have to leave.
In fact, I wished I had discovered the place sooner and not on the last night of my trip – I would have gladly traded the white sheets and glass interiors of IP Boutique Hotel for this most ajumma- friendly of havens.
Unlike the refined Japanese onsen, or hot spring, there is something wild, slightly bright and chaotic, and ridiculous about Dragon Hill – sort of like Seoul itself. And I loved it.
Having cosmetic surgery to enhance what nature gave you (or to keep her at bay) is increasingly common. In 2010 over 3.3m procedures were done in America, more than anywhere else, according to a report from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. These were split roughly evenly between “non-invasive” treatments, such as botox or facial peels, and “invasive” surgery. Chin implants (“chinplants”) alone rose by 71% on the previous year. But when population is accounted for, South Korea tops the list. A 2009 survey by Trend Monitor, a market-research firm, suggested that one in five women in Seoul had gone under the knife. Beauty is beheld differently in different countries, and this is reflected in the demands made on surgeons’ scalpels. There are seven times more buttock operations in Brazil than the top-25 country average, and five times more vaginal rejuvenations. in Greece, penis enlargements are performed ten times more often than the average.
Comments from Sina Weibo:
追夢少年臣臣：
South Korea must rank first, which is famous for plastic surgery technology in the world. Hehe.
South Korean people are too ugly to look at without plastic surgery! Friends who went to South Korea do know that.
I can accept if my friends do that. But I won’t do, because our bodies are given by our parents~
恨嫁的人要么瘦要么死：
I would like to do these surgeries, but I’m afraid.
悠悠淘宝摄影：
Natural beauty is real beauty, or people no longer look human, not even like a ghost!
Physically, you changed yourself, but you cannot change your gene in scientifically.
hi_guys_from_Marshall：
in fact, it’s no need to raise to a higher level. is daily shaving one of plastic surgery???
I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.
一口鱼丸一口大心：
-I won’t do that, though I want to Orz… no money and painful.
South Korea, I think so. But I didn’t know Greece also like do cosmetic.
When you get a boyfriend or girlfriend, you should ask a question first, plastic surgery or not?
I had never did dot mole and correctional tooth. It’s not that I didn’t want to do, but I have no money. I have used to my face already. it doesn’t matter.
South Korean stars looked the same. I think it was because of the same models…Haha
Making a face-life drug is ok to me, but surgery would not dare!
汽车场地试驾：
When we are old, nothing can cover up the old face.
佳佳的疯话连篇：
Who did that survey? Our country actually didn’t make to the top three…
Which country can be over South Korea?
I feel that more and more Chinese keen on plastic surgery. is that bad or good?
China ranked low, which means Chinese are natural beauty!
Everybody in the earth knows that
One of my friends married a South Korean man. her husband said that South Korean women liked ghosts when they lose their makeup.
The United States sees the among the most procedures performed throughout the world, but in terms of population percentage that goes under the knife, it doesn’t even crack the top three. New statistics released by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery rate the top seven countries for their plastic surgeries per person, and the results reveal some interesting trends.
The seven countries, and their most popular surgeries, are as follows:
3. Italy - Botulinum Toxin Type a (Botox Dysport) and Liposuction
4. Brazil - Breast Implants and Liposuction
5. Columbia - Liposuction
6. USA - Liposuction, Breast Augmentation
7. Taiwan - Botox and other wrinkle treatments
These numbers are very intriguing to the plastic surgery industry. The biggest surprise is how far up Greece is on the list, while Brazil is lower on the list than expected. Greece, a country in the midst of an economic downfall, spent a surprising amount of money on elective surgeries.
“a country’s economy and the access to disposable income usually plays a big part in the demand of plastic surgery unless the government pays for it,” says Dr. Malcolm Roth, president of the American Society for Plastic Surgeons.
Meanwhile, Brazil, a country whose government offers a number of tax deductions found it’s way lower on the list, to the surprise of the industry.
“Culturally speaking, Brazilians have no problem with plastic surgery,” says Roth. “If anything, it’s seen as a status symbol to have had it.”
But the winner for most surgeries per capita is South Korea. Trend Monitor estimates as many as one in five women have undergone some sort of procedure in Seoul. one of the top procedures is blepharoplasty, or double eyelid surgery. over 44,000 such surgeries were performed in 2010.
“In Asia, it’s very common for patients to want more Western-looking eyes,” says Roth. “so that’s really no surprise there.”
These results and more are beginning to shed light on the effect globalization is having on the industry. more and more people in nations across the world are coming to accept plastic surgery.
“because people are beginning to talk openly about it, we’ve seen over the last couple decades the demand for plastic surgery grow,” says Roth. “People are realizing that it’s more common than most people think and there doesn’t have to be a stigma around it.”
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According to reports, Vehicles and Korean idol group SNSD members Cuixiu Ying’s sister, who star Ahn Jae Wook and South Korea co-starred in the musical four well-known Korean singer. Korea plastic surgery in
SEOUL – It was in the mid-2000s when South Korean plastic surgeon Joo Kwon noticed a trickle of Chinese women walking into his clinic, even though he hadn’t advertised overseas.”They somehow found a way to the clinic… and nearly all of them said they want the face of Lee Young-Ae,” Joo said, referring to a top South Korean actress who starred in the pan-Asian hit drama “Jewel in the Palace.”The trickle has now turned into a flood of Chinese packing Joo’s JK Plastic Surgery Centre — one of the country’s largest — and many other clinics, lured by the looks of South Korean entertainers who have taken Asia by storm.A Hallyu (Korean wave) of pop culture over the past decade has won a devoted fan base in China, Southeast Asia and Japan. the South’s TV dramas dominate prime-time airwaves and K-pop bands sell out concerts and top the charts.Legendary TV hits like “Winter Sonata” and “Autumn Fairy Tale” help draw tens of thousands of foreign fans to filming locations in South Korea every year, boosting the tourism industry.now skilled plastic surgeons in the looks-obsessed South — who often helped beautify Korean stars in the first place — are enjoying an unexpected boom as they do the same for their foreign fans.according to government data, overall medical spending by foreign visitors hit a record $116 million last year. Fourteen percent sought plastic surgery or skin treatments such as botox.Almost a half of all foreigners seeking a nose job, a facelift, a jawbone reduction or a tummy tuck were from China. their number nearly tripled from 1,657 in 2009 to 4,400 in 2010.”The Hallyu boom has definitely played a key role in drawing new patients from abroad,” said Hong Jeong-Geun, spokesman for the Korea Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.Hong said many star-struck foreigners visit clinics with photos of celebrities like Kim Hee-Sun, a popular actress in Asia, and ask surgeons to emulate her nose angle or eyes.”They understand that some stars, rather than born beautiful, were made beautiful with a little bit of help from plastic surgeons,” Hong told AFP.Cut-throat competition among the country’s growing number of plastic surgeons — who now number some 1,700 — made them even more aggressive in trying to lure new clients, he said.Joo’s clinic in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district — home to more than 400 plastic surgery and skin-treatment clinics — is at the forefront of such efforts.About a half of its customers are non-Koreans, from China, Japan, the Middle East and even Africa. Patients picked up at the airport by limousines are greeted by staffers who speak English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese or Mongolian.Joo declined to give the total number of patients at his clinic but said 10 doctors perform dozens of surgeries every day.the clinic recently opened its own hotel to better serve deep-pocketed foreigners who spend an average of about 20 million won ($17,675) to get multiple surgery during a single visit.”I think there’s a good chance that plastic surgery can become South Korea’s new major export industry,” said Joo.Customers like Anny Guo are highly sought after.the daughter of a construction firm CEO in the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin, she flew to Seoul to get a nose job and make her high cheekbones less prominent.her parents gave her 100,000 yuan ($15,860) after she begged them for months.”I want to have a face and skin like Song Hye-Gyo…or nose like Han Ga-In,” the 24-year-old college student told AFP, referring to popular South Korean actresses.Many South Korean TV shows are aired with subtitles on Chinese websites only a day after being screened in Seoul.”Most of my friends who watch South Korean dramas want to come here to get surgery. They think plastic surgeons here are the best in Asia,” said Guo.Policymakers have eased regulations, allocated a greater budget, staged presentations overseas and given awards to successful clinics to promote all kinds of medical tourism.”Medical tourism, plastic surgery included, will be a new growth driver for our economy….and the popularity of our stars is helping us a lot,” said Jung Eun-Young, deputy director of the health ministry’s policy department.even cosmetic surgeons, however, have some reservations.Joo Kwon said it was undesirable that more and more Koreans are seeking such operations.”I think South Korea has a very rigorous and narrow definition of beauty because we’re an ethnically homogenous society and everyone looks pretty much the same. It is also related to low self-esteem,” he said”I think the situation will somewhat moderate in future as society becomes more diverse. but it will take quite a bit of time until we get there.” - Agence France-Presse
In South Korea, size matters. in a country where double eyelid surgery to get bigger eyes is frequently a high school gift, there is a new plastic surgery trend that is rapidly gathering steam. no matter that it involves months of postsurgical recovery. South Koreans are undergoing double-jaw surgery, an excruciating process that involves reconfiguring and aligning the upper and lower jaws. the goal: to make their faces smaller. in the United States, this painful surgery is usually done to correct congenital facial deformities.
In this country, netizens, or citizens of the internet, are busy comparing face sizes of celebrities. Small-faced celebrities are the undisputed “winners,” and “losers” are flocking to the hundreds of plastic surgery clinics clustered alongside the so-called “beauty belt” in southern Seoul. in South Korean households the term “V-line” does not denote cleavage. It is used to describe an oval face with a lean facial line and a sharp chin.
Dr. Park Sung-hoon, head of Seoul’s ID Hospital reports to English.news.cn, “It seems like having a small face is a dream for South Koreans.” Here, all eyes are trained on celebrities who have had their jaw bones cut and emerge looking totally different. Park estimates that 99 percent of South Korean celebrities get plastic surgery on their faces.
But the ID Hospital also gets a lot of foreigners who take advantage of South Korea’s advanced technology. Government efforts to promote medical tourism and the popularity of South Korean celebrities generate a steady stream of takers.
The information that this trend is based on is debatable, but what has emerged are some alarming new statistics. the state-run Korea Consumer Agency reports that the number of reported cases of adverse effects of plastic surgery stood at 2,984 in 2010, up from 1,901 cases in 2006. According to English.news.cn, “An unspecified number of people have reportedly died after double-jaw surgery, a major operation involving general anesthesia, due to excessive bleeding.”
When confronted with the criticism that celebrities now all look similar and have lost individual charm, Parks replies, “Some might blame us surgeons for making everyone look alike, but it’s not like we can shape a face the way we really want to. It is the society that ultimately decides what a desirable face should look like.”
Double-jaw surgery, which was originally developed to correct underbite and crossbite among other orthodontic problems, usually costs more than 10 million won ($8,690 US dollars) and chin surgery is about half that price.
A plastic surgeon, left, speaks to his patient at the BK DongYang Plastic Surgery Clinic in Seoul, South Korea. (REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won)
Put together the world’s most wired country, a fascination with the lives of the young, rich and famous and a penchant for plastic surgery, and what do you have? a problem, some South Koreans say.
This affluent Asian country of 50 million people has the second largest number of plastic surgery operations in the world relative to the size of its population after Hungary, according to industry data, and the Internet is fanning the flame.
With Korean pop sensations such as Goo Hara from hit girl group KARA admitting they have gone under the knife, there’s no shame in ordinary mortals following suit, despite old Confucian teachings that altering the body disrespects one’s parents.
Thousands of websites with hundreds of thousands of followers have sprung up recently, allowing devotees of cosmetic surgery to share tips on how to obtain the perfect body, discuss the most effective surgeries and post photos with queries about what they should have changed.
“I am now able to attract a boyfriend after undergoing a facial liposuction surgery,” said an unnamed woman picked recently as “Plastic Surgery Queen of the Week” on the Yeowooya website, which has 550,000 followers and is the country’s most popular such site.
“Can you see, my face is now narrower than before.”
Her post attracted 500 comments from others seeking to emulate her — and to find her surgeon.
“Please send me clinic information. I too want to have fat sucked out of my face,” wrote one woman.
POPULAR PLASTIC SURGERY
According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS), 770,913 plastic surgery procedures were carried out in 2010, putting South Korea seventh on a global list in terms of the total number of operations performed.
The most popular procedure is believed to be double eyelid surgery to make eyes look bigger and rounder, but an operation to produce a “small face,” including liposuction and reconfiguring the jawbone, is the current fad.
Many high school girls choose to get surgery after sitting for their college entrance exams, and plastic surgery clinics launch aggressive advertising campaigns to attract more people, including “mother and daughter” surgery packages. others offer two procedures for the price of one.
Still, concern has grown since 2008 when photos of a woman with a face ruined by a series of plastic surgeries appeared online, shocking the nation.
The state-run Korea Consumer Agency said the number of reported cases of side effects had surged to 4,043 in 2011, up from 1,698 in 2008.
“Many plastic surgeons only highlight the positive side of cosmetic surgery … there have even been cases reported where doctors have had patients sign a consent form whilst on the operating table,” said Kwon Seon-hwa, deputy manager at the consumer agency.
A rare poster campaign, “Against Plastic Surgery,” was held in Seoul’s ritzy Gangnam suburb, which has been dubbed the city’s “beauty belt” due to the large number of clinics there.
But change will likely come at a slow pace.
Deeply rooted cultural factors such as placing a high value on appearance because people judge others quickly — in line with a Korean propensity for haste — may play a role, said Shin Young-chul, a psychiatrist at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul.
“A growing income level and an accepting social atmosphere (for cosmetic surgery) allows more people to go under the knife,” he said. “But this recent craze is definitely excessive.”
By Maureen Koh the new Paper Tuesday, Jul 31, 2012
A plastic surgeon, left, speaks to his patient at the BK DongYang Plastic Surgery Clinic in Seoul, South Korea. (REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won)